“Changes at the Stokes Wood Allotment Composting Demonstration Site

As part of the changes being introduced at the Stokes Wood Composting demonstration site in the hope that we will be able to start our training programme  for allotment plot holders across the midlands in the spring we have created a “Komp” corner  with three different types of Komp plastic bins. The first two are “Themo” models. The  Komp 250 litre is an old favourite bin with hinged modular panels making it easy to empty,  move and open to harvest the finished compost.  It has evenly spaced ventilation holes  and fits into a space less than 2sq.ft. The larger 525 model is similar in construction but is  six sided. The Komp 640 is one of our slatted bins for those who favour greater ventilation. We have been using this to make leaf mould but are considering using as an additional bin for our normal allotment waste.  We now have approximately 40 different bins and systems of composting and making liquid feeds on display  including  a covered anaerobic weed mound and a garden waste Bokashi mound .

Once the Covid-19  restrictions are lifted the site will be open to visitors on Wednesday mornings and by appointment. Visits by allotment societies are welcome and can be combined with a training session for new or experienced composters wishing to brush up on more specialized techniques. e.g. hot composting, wormeries  or making compost and plant  liquid feeds.

The Compost year : Composting sweetcorn plants

Today we received the  first of this year’s sweetcorn plants  for composting at the Stokes Wood Compost Demonstration site.    Most home composters will have composted sweet corn  kernels, husks, and the central cob itself as part of their kitchen waste.

The kernels compost quickly,  and the husks can also be added directly to the bin. The central  cob will take longer and are best cut into small pieces to expose the maximum surface area to the compost microbes. However, if left  whole the cobs will provide space for air pockets in the  compost although they will take longer to breakdown.   If not finished in the first cycle they can always be added to the next bin.  

On the allotment we receive the finished plants, although these may  include some small  cobs that have not fully developed by the end of the season. The stalks are quite thick but when green are easily cut inro manageable lengths with garden shears. I do not cut mine to the 1-2 inches  recommended  for fast  composting but aim for about 6 inches to make it easy to turn  when aerating the bin contents. If allowed to dry, after cutting. When starting a new bin at this time of year  a layer of sweetcorn stalks can be added to form a base layer  to allow airflow into the heap.

There are more photos on the Carry on composting Facebook page

The perennial weeds shown in the wheelie bins in a previous blog posting have now been moved to the Composting Demonstration plot. We were impressed with the artistic arrangement of the dock at the top of the pile. The mound will now be shaped, covered with black plastic to exclude the light and air, and left to decompose. As can be seen there is a lot of soil on the weeds much of which could have be knocked off and kept on the plot but at least if all works well it will all be ready to be  reused in about a year .

Halloween need not be the Festival of Food waste

It is estimated that in the UK up to four million pumpkins are brought to carve and display over Halloween with the edible flesh of these pumpkins being discarded as waste and ending up with most of the lanterns in landfill. This produces an additional 18,000 tons of landfill waste directly attributable to the Halloween festivities. This, according to the environmental charity Hubbub, is equivalent to 360 million portions of pumpkin pie.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture states that 1.91 billion pounds of pumpkins where grown in the USA in 2014 most of which, as in the UK, where used for carving and then thrown away,

 Much of this waste is due to people being unaware of the versatility of pumpkin flesh as a food or not realising that the fresh discarded when carving the pumpkin can be eaten. It is calculated that in the UK only 33% cook the fresh of the pumpkins they carve out this will leave 12.8 million pumpkins  uneaten this Halloween.

On this basis, farmers are growing acres of food just for it to be thrown away. Families  and all food fanatics can all help reduce waste at Halloween by taking part in, or organising   Covid-19 compliant, Pumpkin Rescue activities.

Although we are limited in what we can do this year community groups, local authorities, Environmental and  Food Groups, Allotment Societies, Schools can also organise Covid compliant activities for their members at home or one the net.

Carve it,  Cook it, Eat it, Compost it 

Join us in reducing pumpkin waste while celebrating Halloween

1. Provide pumpkin recipes and cooking advice to friends, community groups, schools, and clubs. Links to websites are provided.
2. Get creative and carve your pumpkin at home photograph  the pumpkin and carvers at home, or school before sending the Photographs to us to include on our carryoncomposting.com  website. (Email carryoncomposting1@gmail.com) Encourage carvers to cook the flesh from the pumpkins
3. Competition Time  Adults can join in and enter the Hubbub competitionSend a photo of your pumpkin carved and cooked, and be in with a chance to win one of two sets of these stunning pumpkin-esque Le Crueset cast iron dishes, and a selection of Toast Ale (made from rescued bread!)Details from  https://www.hubbub.org.uk/eat-your-pumpkin-competition-terms-conditions   Entry Closes 31st October 2020 at 12pm  
4. Compost the remains of your carved pumpkin. Due to restrictions we cannot hold our  Pumpkin Smash at Stokes Wood Allotment Compost Demonstration Site this year. (In 2019 we had over 100 pumpkins to smash and compost) but they are easy to compost at home. Join in and send  us photos of the smash or composting.  A downloadable PowerPoint presentation is available at the bottom of this page.

5.     Pumpkin Recipes  Every year over a quarter of all Halloween pumpkins end up in landfill – that’s 18,000 tonnes of food waste with  the flesh of many pumpkins going straight to the food waste bin or composting heap  without being eaten - Hubbub and the local Pumpkin Rescue team  are urging pumpkin carvers  across the county and city to join this year’s Pumpkin Rescue  and reduce the waste sent to landfill,

 Weeds in the car park.

Wheelie bins full of weeds have been left in the car park at our allotment.   While it is not good allotment  practise to leave weeds for someone else to deal with it does present an interesting composting challenge.

  Perennial weeds  can be composted using a hot composting system, or pre-treated to kill them by drying, drowning in a  bin  or being kept in the dark for a couple of years. With so many weeds left at one time and as most seem to have a significant amount of topsoil attached to their roots, most of these methods are impracticable in the space we have so I am going to use light exclusion by building  a weed mound where the weeds will be heaped in a mound covered with black plastic and left for a year, or two if they contain significant amounts of couch grass. If once the wheelie bins are emptied, they are found to contain weed infested turves these will be stacked grass side to grass side. The idea is to produce good quality loam saving  all the topsoil someone had intended to just throw away

To be continued….